Possible Russian program elimination at Portland Community College

Tue Feb 1 05:06:06 UTC 2005

Catherine, 

Thank you so much for your offer to write a letter of support. Having one
from you a president of AATSEEL should really help. I also appreciate your
request of others on the SEELANGS list to also write as well. I have
received a few letters from people on the list, but not the numbers for
which I've been hoping. I really appreciate you taking time to do this. I'll
keep you updated on developments.

Thank you,

Kristine Shmakov

on 1/30/05 6:56 PM, Catharine Nepomnyashchy at cn29 at COLUMBIA.EDU wrote:

> Dear Kristine,
> 
> I will write a letter in support of preserving your program as President
> of AATSEEL.  I encourage others to write in support as well.  Best wishes,
> Cathy
> 
> On Sun, 16 Jan 2005, Kristine L. Shmakov wrote:
> 
>> I am Kristine Shmakov, the full-time Russian instructor and Russian
>> Department Chair at Portland Community College in Portland, Oregon. I just
>> joined the list and have not had a chance to introduce myself. Now I need to
>> use my introduction to ask for your help in preventing elimination of the
>> Russian language program at Portland Community College. Oregon Community
>> Colleges are being forced to make huge cuts over the next two years due to
>> lack of state funding. PCC itself will have to cut $18 million or 8% of its
>> budget. We have just been notified by administration that cuts will be
>> narrow and deep, meaning that they are looking to eliminate entire programs.
>> All academic and non-academic programs are now on the table in a closed
>> budget process. We are very concerned that the Board and administrators will
>> consider it frivolous to offer five languages at PCC, and that they will not
>> understand the great importance of Russian to the Portland-Vancouver
>> community. Programs chosen for elimination will be announced at the
>> beginning of March, and then will have only a week to prepare a defense
>> before final budget decisions are made. I need to collect letters in support
>> of our program now, in case I should need them. In the past, programs that
>> have received strong levels of support from the community have been spared.
>> I would greatly appreciate it if each of you could write a letter in support
>> of the PCC Russian program and send it directly to me. If you could also
>> pass this information onto your colleagues not on the SEELANGS list, as well
>> as anyone you know connected with Russian, it would greatly help our
>> efforts. I hope to amass hundreds of letters to convince the Board that a
>> strong and affordable Russian program is important to the community and that
>> it must be retained.
>> 
>> Please send your letters of support to either my home e-mail or address:
>> 
>> kshmakov at pdxlink.com
>> or Kristine Shmakov 10810 SW 62nd Place Portland, Oregon 97219
>> 
>> Members of the immigrant community are welcome to write letters in Russian
>> if they prefer.
>> 
>> The PCC Russian program started sixteen years ago to meet the growing need
>> for affordable Russian classes in Portland. It is a two-year program that
>> offers college transferable first and second year courses, as well as
>> Russian culture classes. My students transfer to state universities and
>> prestigious private institutions where they continue to study Russian at
>> higher levels. We have the largest first-year Russian enrollments in the
>> state of Oregon, with over 120 students taking first year classes each year.
>> Our courses regularly close with 35 students in each section. Russian has
>> been the only language the last two falls to have every seat filled in all
>> courses offered. Our program has very little attrition, so we keep our high
>> numbers throughout the year.
>> 
>> Part of the reason for our brimming enrollments is that Russian has become
>> the second most demanded language by Oregon employers. The
>> Portland-Vancouver Russian-speaking immigrant community seen the largest per
>> capita growth anywhere in the US, with a 70% increase over the last ten
>> years. As a result, students are no longer taking Russian just to fulfill a
>> degree requirement. With such a strong program and great community need for
>> the language, it seems absurd to consider eliminating Russian. However, in
>> such dire financial times, I cannot make this assumption and not act in
>> defense. This is why I need your letters of support now. If you have any
>> further questions or suggestions, please contact me at (503) 977-4841.
>> 
>> Thank you so much for your help, and I¹ll keep you informed of developments.
>> 
>> Sincerely,
>> 
>> Kristine Shmakov
>> Russian Instructor and Russian Department Chair
>> Portland Community College
>> Portland, Oregon
>> 
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> 
> Catharine Nepomnyashchy
> Director, Harriman Institute
> Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Russian Literature and
> Chair, Slavic Department, Barnard College
> phone: (212) 854-6213
> 
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